


KidLock 4:  John & Molly

by George_Sand



Series: KidLock [4]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Gen, Kidlock, Molly helps John, Molly is great at dissection, Trigger: biology class dissections
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-10-04 08:35:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10272536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/George_Sand/pseuds/George_Sand
Summary: Molly helps John perform dissections in biology class.  They are 12 years old.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Each KidLock is a one-off. They are not related to each other, and I've manipulated relative ages for my convenience. :)

John and Molly were friends. They had had classes together last year and now in Year 8. They were what might be called “school friends;” they never saw each other outside of class, but in class they sat by each other, talked, passed notes, and paired up during group projects. Today was one of those days. They were in Biology class and today’s project was the dissection of a cow’s eye. The eye was as big as John’s fist and, according to their teacher, big enough that the students should be able to identify major structures quite easily, even if their tissue handling techniques were poor. As the teacher placed a steel tray containing their sample and cutting instruments in front of them, John found himself surprisingly uncomfortable and quickly propped his book in front of his eyes. He pretended to examine the clean, non-life-like illustrations of different structures while Molly donned her gloves and placed the tray at a more convenient angle. 

“John? You okay?”

“Yeah,” then glancing tentatively at the sample, “maybe.”

Molly smiled kindly and took up one of the scalpels. 

She said, “Would it be easier if I did the cutting?”

John wrinkled his nose at the word and scooted his chair a little further away. Molly held the eye in place with one steady hand as she manipulated the scalpel with the other. She seemed to easily separate and peel back the sclera. She quickly located and separated the cornea and vitreous body. She lay the unneeded portion to the side as she carefully arranged the three extracted structures for further observation. John was able shove his nausea down far enough to admire her work. Then he made the mistake of glancing around at their classmates’ work. Most had now-unidentifiable blobs with no visibly separated structures. It occurred to John that Molly was much better at this (and calmer) than most of the students. If John ignored the mess to the side of their tray, he was able to watch as Molly investigated the qualities of the three parts of interest. John took notes and couldn’t help but become interested; toward the end of the class he had even put on gloves and gingerly handled the cornea.

The next week John was horrified to learn that they would be dissecting a frog. They studied the anatomy in class early in the week and were given their samples on Friday. John and Molly had drilled each other on the structures they were to find and John became quite comfortable with the sterile textbook illustrations. On Friday, the tray was set in front of John, the sample already on its back with limbs splayed and pinned. Molly took the scalpel and handed it to John.

“Your turn,” she stated calmly.

John, alarmed, only shook his head.

“You can do it, John.”

“But it’s a frog! Molly, it used to be alive.”

“True,” said Molly thoughtfully, “but now it’s our project. It’s already dead, we might as well learn from it.”  
She again offered the scalpel to John. He gathered his courage and took it uncertainly. He closed his eyes, took a breath, and opened them, zeroing in on a small portion of smooth tissue, willfully blocking all other parts from his focus. He wielded the scalpel with care and delicacy as he made a few of the prescribed incisions.  
Molly couldn’t help but congratulate him, “Well done! I can see the liver perfectly!” 

John, attention still on the one small portion of the specimen, saw it too. 

His face was expressionless and Molly asked, “Do you need me to take a turn?”

Paying no attention, John elongated the incision and found the bladder. He glanced from the tissue to the book, and was able to pick out similarities between the cartoon diagram and the structures under his hands. 

He gently pointed to something and said, “Stomach?”

“I think so,” Molly replied. “But it seems kind of big,” then brightening, “maybe his last dinner is in there! I wonder if we could find some bugs or something!”  
That was too much. John dry-heaved and ran out of the room toward the loo.

Their teacher let him go, shaking her head said and saying, “There’s always one.”


End file.
